Kamikushi
by Fou-Chan
Summary: Everyone was told not to stray by the woods. Demons… Youkai lived there. They would take you and drag you away then feast on you. They were nothing but monsters. Little Shuuki knew this well, she'd been told the tales many times. This person died to get water, this one on a trip to visit relatives. She didn't listen, though. When her ball rolled into the trees she did not hesitate.
1. And So it Begins

Yuuuup, totally posting this without even finishing or updating the original FF with Shuuki in it… Meh. I have tuns of ideas for this so… This is more fun to type out right now anyway.

At any rate here is the summery:

Everyone was told not to stray by the woods. Demons… Youkai lived there. They would take you and drag you away then feast on you. They were nothing but monsters. Little Shuuki knew this well, she'd been told the tales many times. This person died to get water, this one on a trip to visit relatives. She didn't listen, though. When her ball rolled into the trees she did not hesitate to race after it. But, what she did not expect was to meet face to face with an oni, nor did she expect to have him clean and bandage her wounds when she fell. In the end it was not her but her heart that was spirited away.

Warning;; There WILL be yaoi and later on maybe yuri, and OC x Cannon pairings. The main pairings are AkaShuu, Platinum, Alpha, MaruHime, and later on JackalRiko and YanaEri. Other pairings you shall have to wait and see.

And a disclaimer~ in no way do I own Prince of Tennis or it's characters. All I own is Shuuki and the idea of putting the characters in this setting. Now… enjoy the story~

- ouo -

The forest was quiet as two youkai traveled through it, limbs moving without a single sound as they crossed through familiar grounds. "Oi, Akaya, I think we've strayed a little too far," the red-headed of the duo announced, wings fluttering behind him in mild annoyance, even as violet eyes scanned the area around them.

"What're you talking about, sempai?" the younger of the two youkai replied, huffing childishly as emerald eyes glanced over to the elder of the duo. "It's fine as long as we stick to the trees, isn't it?"

"...I guess. So long as none of the humans spot us."

"See? It's fine then!" the one named Akaya chimed, picking his pace up just a little as green eyes flickered over the woods, mussed, curly hair moving a little with every rushed step. "Come on, Marui-sempai-!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," the red-head replied, a small sigh escaping his lips. Marui was never quite sure whether he should be amused or exasperated by the other's childish nature.

As they continued on, voices began to make themselves heard, growing progressively louder even as the two youkai slowed their pace to match. They could already see the edges of the forest coming into view, and along with it, the figures and shapes of humans and one of their village-settlements not too far behind. The conversation was rather boring to the ageless duo, the usual women's gossip and the chatter of kids playing.

One thing in particular caught the seaweed-haired Oni's attention. It was a little girl, playing all by herself with a ball. Her skin was almost as pale as bone, her face framed by midnight-color hair in a wavy veil around her small frame. The most attention grabbing, though, were her soft, chocolate colored eyes.

Marui blinked as he caught the younger's line of sight. "What's so interesting?" he asked, raising his brow a bit as he saw what the emerald-eyed Oni was looking at. "Oh, a little girl...? I guess she's kinda cute..." he muttered, giving a light shrug as he did so. He was already partial towards another, anyways. Besides, it was just a kid, what was so interesting about that?

Akaya just grinned sheepishly, caught. "Yeah... yeah, cute, isn't she...?" he murmured, somewhat distracted. He was torn from his thoughts though, as the girl came closer, chasing the ball that had escaped her grasp. Squeaking in surprise, he reeled back, knowing better than to be seen by any of the humans.

He was an Oni Youkai, after all, she'd probably run away screaming if she saw him, and draw the attention of Hunters as well...

Cursing, Marui grabbed Akaya's wrist, the half-tengu's wings opening in a flash, and flying the two back farther into the shadows of the forest. "Idiot!" he hissed, hoping that the girl hadn't heard the younger Youkai's sound of surprise.

Emerald eyes dropped in embarrassment, but continued to watch, silencing himself as he saw the top of a navy head behind the bushes.

"...He...llo...?" A small voice called out, sweet and shy.

She must have heard them.

No other words came as both sides waited in silence for the other to make a move. At last, the two heard her foot steps recede and relaxed their positionings, still listening, just in case. Even as the girl got farther, they could still hear whisps of conversation.

"Shuuki-! Why did you get so close to the trees? You know how dangerous it is!" A woman, possibly the mother or some other care-taker.

"I'm sorry, Okaa-san... But the ball escaped... And I heard voices, and-" Yup, definitely the mother.

"I told you it was dangerous! If you heard voices, why didn't you run away?" Reprimand, still the mother.

"...I'm sorry..." Now the girl, soft and meek.

A sigh. "I guess it's alright. You're not hurt and no youkai showed up, after all..." The voices faded a bit, as the two females moved farther away.

Violet and emerald eyes met, and the two nodded before slipping away.

Still, Akaya couldn't help but look back one last time.

So her name was Shuuki...

- ouo -

And that was the first chapter/prolog to the story~ Big thanks to Kurokagami no Shirokage for beta-ing this for me~

Hope you all enjoy, please review, but no flames please… Tips and opinions are okay but don't be rude about it


	2. Meeting OniSan

Chapter two~ Don't know if anyone is actually reading this but…. I'm having fun writing it and that's all that matters.

Like I've said before, I don't own the Prince of Tennis characters only the plot and Shuuki.

- ouo -

Humans certainly did grow up fast, Akaya thought. He had snuck out to see the little midnight-haired girl a few times after he had first seen her those three years ago. Most of the others would've found his outings rather boring, as she really didn't do much aside from playing with her doll or her ball -sometimes, with a midnight haired boy who Akaya quickly learned was a her elder brother by two years.

Still, he didn't visit very often, perhaps once every three months or so. Yet, every time he did, she would have grown enough for the changes to be visible. It was interesting to him, so different from what he knew. After all, Youkai took much longer to mature as she did, though compared to the other human villagers, she was still rather small and frail.

On this particular day, she was the only child playing, the small, familiar ball bouncing between her hands and the packed earth beneath her. Just the simple action of it seemed enough to entertain her. Up, down, up, down, the ball went, the little girl's eyes bright as she watched it bounce. In a single flash, the ball escaped the routine, having hit a stone and rebound from its side.

Little Shuuki squeaked in surprise, her chocolate eyes growing wide as she chased after the wayward toy, not even pausing as it rolled closer and closer to the treeline, coming right up to where Akaya had crouched, hiding from human sight.

The oni panicked, but before he could even attempt to move, the girl did a face-plant, taking a page out of her little ball's book and tripping over a rock in her tiny geta sandals.

A miniature war took place within Akaya's head. One side reminding him of just what he was, an Oni. Just showing up would scare the girl. She'd run away and would most likely never show up again. Another side, his softer side, worried about the fact that she was bleeding, her knees entirely scraped by the harsh earth, and stone imbedded into her pale skin.

Inwardly, Akaya swore. It was stupid of him, but he honestly couldn't just leave her like that.

"Oi... you okay...?" he called out, barely moving from his cover, and careful to stay under the shaded area of the trees.

"Eh?" The little mortal managed, looking up from her place on the ground as she tried to wipe the rocks out of her skin. As soon as she did, her eyes grew nearly as wide as plates, a stunned, doe-like look settling onto her face.

He had horns! Two of them, twisting right out the top of his head. Akaya winced slightly at her expression, a sheepish look crossing his face. She'd noticed them and was probably just too stunned to run away, he thought, explaining to himself the reason she had not yet tried to escape. She was probably frozen with fear, he just knew it.

Despite Akaya's imagination, though, the girl had no interest in escape. Instead, she was curious. First, though, since he'd asked her a question, it would be rude not to answer it, so, nodding meekly, the young girl offered her best 'I'll be Okay' smile. "Un! I'm okay... I just tripped," she chimed softly in response, puffing her chest slightly in childish pride (or determination, Akaya really wasn't quite sure which). She was strong, after all! This little scrape was nothing!

Akaya couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips, feeling lighter and relieved that she hadn't run away screaming (like he'd thought she would). "Is that so? You're still bleeding, though," he pointed out, crouching alongside her as he carefully and gently brushed his hand again the wound to help rid the remaining bits of gravel from their place.

All the while, doe eyes watched him curiously, blinking slowly in awe at the tender way he, a supposed Oni, was treating her injury.

"You should be fine once I bandage it up," he concluded, moving back at last, in order to rip a part of yukata into a make-shift bandage.

"Ah-! Don't-!" the girl cried out, quickly grabbing his hands to keep him from destroying his clothing.

Emerald orbs blinked at her in confusion, firstly for her sudden outcry and second for the fact that she didn't seem to fear touching him. "Don't...?" He managed his brow furrowing with confusion.

She pout slightly, nodding to the green-eyed Oni, "You shouldn't ruin your clothes for me..." she mumbled meekly.

Ah, so that was her reasoning. Akaya grinned slightly and ruffled her hair, careful not to stab her with his sharp, pointed nails. "It's fine, really. Don't worry 'bout it," he promised, "I have plenty more." And besides, he could always get Jackal-sempai to fix it later. Either way, it was no problem.

Again, she gave him that doe-eyed look, but she seemed to be more worried for him than any other reason. Eventually, she just nodded, and so Akaya ripped the bottom hem off his yukata, carefully wrapping then tying it around her knee.

It was an art he wasn't too proud of having learned, due to the circumstances he'd learned it under. Getting into tons of fights wasn't really the best way to need to learn first aid.

Checking that it wasn't too tight, he nodded in approval, before getting up and offering her a hand. "You should be fine now," he told her, "Just make sure to properly clean that, first chance, kay?"

She nodded, smiling and accepting his hand gratefully, and wobbling to her feet once more. "Thank you, Oni-san," she murmured bowing slightly to add emphasis to her thanks.

Akaya blinked, surprised to be thanked by the other. Nonetheless, he shrugged and tucked his hands behind his head, grinning. "Don't mind it, brat." He knew better than to call her by name. After all, he really didn't want to be seen as some kind of weirdo youkai stalker by her.

"Hyoutori, Shuuki!" She chirped, catching him off-guard. "Oni-san can call me Shuuki, though," she beamed.

Akaya chuckled before ruffling her hair agian. "Shuuki-chan it is, then. My name's Kirihara Akaya," he replied, jabbing a thumb towards himself with a grin.

Before the girl could reply, a call came from the village. "Shuuki, are you still out there?"

It was her mother.

Shuuki frowned slightly, though it really looked more like a pout. "Yes, Okaa-san!" she called back as Akaya watcher her expression with curiosity. Did she look... annoyed?

Her mother was quick to respond. "Lunch is ready, so come back, alright?"

The pout deepened and chocolat eyes looked up to meet emerald. "I guess I have to go... but I'll see Oni-san again, right?"

Akaya nodded, "I'll be around," he teasing, winking mischievously at the girl.

That little announcement from the green-eyed demon certainly brightened the girl up, as she smiled -no, beamed- right at him. "Jaa, I'll see Oni-san again, then!" she chirped, waiving before rushing off back towards the village, almost as if leaving quicker would mean seeing him sooner (and perhaps, in her eyes, that was the case).

"I'm, coming, Okaa-san!"

Akaya just watched with a small smile as the child ran up to her mother.

Today had been a good day...

- ouo -

And that was the first chapter/prolog to the story~ Big thanks to Kurokagami no Shirokage for beta-ing this for me~

Hope you all enjoy, please review, but no flames please… Tips and opinions are okay but don't be rude about it.


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